Day
131 The
Bad Batch [2016]
Screenplay Ana Lily Amirpour
Director Ana Lily Amirpour
Cinematography Lyle Vincent
Music Brett
Pierce
Leads Suki
Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi, Yolonda Ross,
Jayda Fink
Production Annapurna Pictures, VICE Films, Human Stew
Factory
IMDb 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes 42%
I’m
slightly sad about this film. It started out with such promise – a wacky,
dystopian wasteland filled with beauty, horror and mystery. Beauty mostly
thanks to the impressive Waterhouse who plays one of society’s ‘bad batch’,
Arlen, cast out of the USA and forced to fend for herself in the desert. Beyond
that the plot is unexplainable because it literally does not make sense.
However, that is what I liked about it. The more dialogue there was, the worse
the movie was, and the romantic element between Arlen and ‘Miami man’ (Momoa)
was completely unnecessary and annoying. I think Amirpour needed to revel
longer in the weirdness and unpredictability that the film starts out with. I
can pinpoint the exact moment when the film got worse (hence the ratings), and
that is when Arlen drops acid. From that point onwards, it undoes all the hard
work it had done during the first half of the film. The acting isn’t too bad
really, with freaky but good cameos from Ribisi and Jim Carrey. Momoa is a good
actor until he opens his mouth. Waterhouse too is great until she has too much
dialogue, but I think it is the writing that lets her down rather than her
debateable Texan accent. I loved Vincent’s shots – the main winner in this film
for me. The music choice seemed out of place on a movie soundtrack, but it
worked well for this one – stock full of displacement. I can see why the
critics scoffed at it, but it wasn’t as bad as they suggest, for the most part.
Acting 3 / 4
Writing 3 / 4 moving into a 2 /
4
Cinematography 4 / 4
Music 3.5 / 4
HWF rating 3.5 / 4 moving into a 2.5 / 4
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